Well ... I am the oldest of seven children, and have been home educated since birth. My parents were both public school teachers who spent much time reading Raymond and Dorothy Moore's homeschooling books while they were expecting me. Convinced they could not entrust their children to government schools, they chose give us a different childhood.
They read numerous books to us from Good Night Moon to Pilgrim's Progress, biographies and the Bible. They took us everywhere they went from wedding parties and funerals to speaking engagements.
Mom and Dad started a 5 minute radio program in the 80s and 90s called One Christian Family that aired weekly on 1180 KERI. Dad took me to interview people like candidates for office and a former LAPD officer giving his experience during the LA riots.
Once, after interviewing David Funderburk, former ambassador to Romania, Dad was responsible to take him to his next speaking engagement. Dad had me ask what the children were like in Romania. Mr. Funderburk said one thing that stands out the most is that Children in Romania do not smile. During Ceausescu's regime, he wanted more people to rule over and required every Romanian woman to have five children. Many fulfilled their obligation and dumped the babies on the street to be taken to state orphanages. Visiting the orphanages with his daughter, the little Romanian children often asked why his daughter was smiling.
In 1991, Mom and Dad started building our house. Mom was expecting Victor, who is their fifth. We were getting tight in 1128 sq feet house dad had purchased when he asked Mom to marry him.
Mom spent many hours drawing house plans on the kitchen table, incorporating ideas from houses we'd visited and fixing problems she had with our house.
While wiring our house, Dad listened to talk radio and Spanish preachers working for his bilingual credential. When they encountered a new phase of construction, Mom would take us to Visalia, learn something of how to do it from the workers at Home Base, pick up the 'How To' booklets and figure it out with Dad when he got off work.
We joined the John Birch Society when I was 4 years old. They first went to a speech sponsored by JBS, when I was an infant, to hear Samuel Blumenfeld speak on the reading problem. Blumenfeld, a writer for Grosset and Dunlap, exposed faulty look-say method for teaching English. He is the author of Alpha Phonics, a book Mom has used to teach all of us to read. Dad has also used it to tutor reading 'disabled' students after school.
Blumenfeld had a vivid understanding of the importance of literacy; his own mother, a Jewish immigrant, never learned to read.
The Birch Society, named after a martyred Christian missionary to China, taught us principles of economics and good government. We learned that that wealth comes from production, not price controls. And principles in the Constitution; that Rights come from God and therefore governments are created by men to protect those rights. When people use civil government to forcibly redistribute wealth, as in Rome, where the working men were taxed to provide bread and circuses, it untimely brings death of that culture.
Dad taught us that the world is a battle ground, not a play ground and that we should take every opportunity to learn. He has sacrificed to take us to meet our heroes and in my sister's case, this led to her marriage to a man she truly respected.
As soon as my parents realized I could read they handed me the books they were learning from. The first big one was Grand Illusions; the Legacy of Planned Parenthood by George Grant. Other childhood reading included the JBS News magazine THE NEW AMERICAN along side Nancy Drew and books of speakers like Broken Earth - Rural Chinese and the impact of China's one child policy by Steven Mosher. As a result, at a young age, I was able to know what I believed about abortion and why - not simply repeating what my parents said.
I studied with Robert Welch University, an online liberal arts college with all Ivy League professors. One favorite was Thomas Woods Jr., the author of the bestseller, Politically Incorrect Guide to History, (Regnery Press.)
My research papers include, Women in the Ancient Near East, which shows that Biblical culture is superior in its treatment of women. And a study of Greek and Hebrew influenced education in the Roman Empire.
In 2007, for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, I wrote Refuting Revisionism at Jamestown for THE NEW AMERICAN, covering the Quadricentennial celebration and surrounding controversy.
I have been a part of Freedom Generation Summer camp www.freedomgen.com for 12 years, first as a camper and now, a counselor and speaker. So far, my subjects include; 500 years of American History in One Hour, an exciting look at the Providences in our land. Two Revolutions; the French and American Revolutions Compared (The two had little in common) and the Communist Manifesto, A look at Marx, his little book, and the impact of his ten planks in our nation.
My interests include history, sewing, theology, writing, excellent art, Celtic music, jogging, baking bread, entrepreneurialism, hospitality, reformation, figuring out how to buy things bulk, movie soundtracks, working with my siblings and home making.
I would be glad to hear your questions or comments regarding this column. regina@portervillepost.com
